Picking up on Mark's post about the global warming scam, this article from the Washington Post is fascinating.

"What's scary about the herd mentality is how insidiously it gets you to see things differently.  In fact, a recent experiment showed that we may actually be hard-wired to believe what the crowd tells us."

"In the experiment, conducted at Emory University, participants were asked to look at an object (an assemblage of cubes) and then judge how it would look if it were rotated slightly."

"But there was a twist: other participants, who in reality were actors hired for the experiment, were instructed to give wrong answers in an attempt to sway the opinions of their fellow participants. Sure enough, the real subjects, influenced by the actors, gave incorrect responses, despite what their own eyes told them."

"Brain scams found that participants didn't just decide to go along with the crowd. Instead, the crowd's opinion actually changed their perception of the problem. Participants 'saw' the objects differently."

"The herd, it seems, alters our perception of reality."

Wash. Post, Nov 22, 2009, pg G3.

I will only say that I trust Obama implicitly. I elected him and I believe he sees through a lot of BS, but also must play some of the game to make the ultimate goal. I'm glad he'll be here for 2012. I wouldn't have it any other way. We can tend to get negative about things we don't understand. The global warming thing has truth in it, but we are powerless to stop it. It is the natural movement of mother earth and she will take care of herself. :)

I haven't researched the global warming issue extensively, but I'm not going to assume it's a myth because somebody claims it's a scam. Perhaps people who claim it is a scam are biased in some way.

We shouldn't allow ourselves to be tricked by either side. Either way, we treat the environment in a very irresponsible way.

A-men Albert

There not much doubt in my mind that there is global warming going on.  Living here in Canada, and on the West Coast, I am seeing a larger amount of winter storms and rain. But this could easily be explained away as a higher part of the curve regarding weather events. Not anything really out of the norm. As for our planet..I also think there is little to worry about. It was by far warmer before. Yes we could lose some animals, but at the same time we could also gain some newer life forms. It is what it is, and even if we changed right now, its time for people to realise that we are already to the edge and there is little chance of turning back the clock. Up and coming nations will push us to the brink of planetary changes caused by pollution. Adaptation is the key. But thinking that by North America changing its habit's is going to make a difference is in my view a little confused about the planet as a wholes, situation. What are people really worried about? Dying? You dont die. Probably what would be best for the planet is if all human life(the body) was to get whipped out. The planet its self would heal and we would carry on, only without our human bodies. Perhaps even somewhat how Bob saw the future as being some thousand years away from now.   

Do some research.  That's all I have to say.

The problem is that there will always be research that supports both sides, and then the research changes sides until you no longer know whats right and whats wrong.

One day they say too much of something is bad for you, the next day they say it prevents cancer.

I agree people should do their own research and form their own opinions, that doesn't mean that they'll agree with me or that either of us will be right or wrong.

Doing proper research means exploring both sides of an issue, hopefully with an unbiased mindset.  This will allow for an educated opinion, rather than one based on hearsay and gossip. 

Some facts:

Over 17,000 scientists signed a petition against the claim that the release of greenhouse gases has or ever will cause heating or disruption of Earth's climate.

The amount of antarctic sea ice has INCREASED by nearly 45% since 1980!

Satallite readings of the lower topicsphere, the area said to be the first to be affected by global warming, has not increased in temperature since they began the readings 23 years ago.

There is evidence that a warmer climate would actually be beneficial to the world's overall health and welfare.

Emails stolen from a prominate climate research center show that even the researchers pushing the global warming idea find that it actually does not exist.

It has been proven that Al Gore's "findings" regarding the global warming crisis are actually based on bad science and are innaccurate.

It was found that some leading scientists pushing global warming go so far as to actually manipulate research data to support their claims.

Be informed: 

Quote:

http://beltwayblips.dailyradar.com/story/the-global-warming-hoax/

I admit that this conspiracy is in a way a positive thing, for it makes people aware of the destruction we are doing to our world, aside from the imaginary warming, in terms of pollution and whatnot.  Of course, it at the same time raises fears to perhaps unneccessarily high levels.  However, I feel the leaders in charge of this movement have less than righteous motives.  Tax increases, excess government spending, the promotion of socialism and a world government, and the control of a fearful population, are just some of these possible motives. 

I think Global Warming is a code for we better pick up after ourselves. That's all I'm saying. It's hotter than hades where I live in the summer and it didn't used to be so...but that's not really the point. We are destroying the rain forests and polluting like a race of bull dozers.

World Government could be a good thing. I'm not a socialist, but I think things are out of hand. The golden rule will prevail.

Still as I say I'm sure Mother Earth can take care of herself and will long after we have done our damage.

Politics
"This country was founded by a group of slave owners who wanted to be free. Am I right? A group of slave owners who wanted to be free! So they killed a lot of white English people in order to continue owning their black African people, so they could wipe out the rest of the red Indian people, in order to move west and steal the rest of the land from the brown Mexican people, giving them a place to take off and drop their nuclear weapons on the yellow Japanese people. You know what the motto for this country ought to be? 'You give us a color, we'll wipe it out.'" George Carlin

The Mayans are coming back, and they're pissed. ;)